Domenicali calls for calm and a plan as Ferrari eyes 2026 reset

Formula 1’s most polished powerbroker has seen this movie before – and Stefano Domenicali is insisting the ending doesn’t have to be tragic for Ferrari.

The F1 CEO and former Scuderia team principal has stepped into the raging debate around Ferrari’s post-2025 malaise with a message that cuts through the noise: stop panicking, start planning.

In a season that stripped Ferrari of wins, exposed aerodynamic blind spots, and left its star-studded driver line-up searching for answers, Domenicali is betting that composure – not chaos – will determine whether Maranello survives the sport’s looming reset in 2026.

A Season That Went Sideways

Ferrari’s 2025 campaign was a slow-motion pile-up. The SF-25 never truly escaped its aerodynamic limitations, strategic errors remained present, and communication breakdowns undermined confidence on the pit wall and in the cockpit.

Against this challenging backdrop, Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster move turned sour as Q1 exits replaced podium dreams, while Charles Leclerc’s seven podiums across 24 races told a story of effort unrewarded.

Fourth in the Constructors’ Championship felt less like a blip and more like a warning. Yet Domenicali, who once sat in the same pressure cooker, refuses to indulge in despair.

“I’m a positive guy. There’s no need to cry, there’s no need to always be negative. They need to have a plan,” Domenicali told Sky Sports News.

No Panic, No Excuses – Just a Plan

From Domenicali’s vantage point, Ferrari’s biggest risk now isn’t performance – it’s paralysis. The temptation to overreact, reshuffle, or chase short-term fixes could sabotage the long game as Formula 1 barrels toward its next regulatory revolution.

“I’m sure Fred [Vasseur], Lewis and Charles have a plan and that’s what is important. I think it’s important to react, not to fade away and for it to be normal to be fourth in the championship,” he added.

"We want to have a strong Ferrari, and they deserve to be in a stronger position. They need to make sure that there is the right energy and the right thing to follow up, because [for this year] everyone is talking, but no one knows where we are.

“And if you saw what happened [in 2025], everyone already knew what was happening in the future [with regard to the new rules], so stay tuned because every race there will be an evolution."

It’s a pointed reminder that 2025 was never the endgame. While rivals jostled for headlines, the smartest teams – including Ferrari – were already tackling a rules reset, one that could scramble the hierarchy and offer the House of Maranello a rare chance to redraw the script.

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Domenicali isn’t sugarcoating Ferrari’s failings. But neither is he buying the narrative of terminal decline.
In his view, the Italian outfit’s redemption won’t come from louder voices or sharper knives – but from discipline, direction, and faith in a long-term vision.

For Ferrari, bruised but unbroken, the clock isn’t just ticking. It’s daring them to prove that history still counts for something when the rules – and the sport – change again.

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